OFFICIAL 2007 LLSOC CALENDAR

Last years calendar was a huge success and now it's time to start thinking about next years addition. Again I will need 12 images of club member LS's. The rules listed below are the same as before.

For all those of you who made it into this years calendar (2006), you can still enter again for next years edition (2007). All you have to do is to submit NEW images of your LS. No duplicate photos will be accepted. And for those of you who sent me images but were not chosen, please try again and send me more.
The number one problem I saw last year was a lack of sharpness do to camera shake.
So be sure to use the fastest shutter speed possible and/or a tripod.

The new 2007 LLSOC Calendar will be the same size and cost as before.
A larger quantity will be printed and again all proceeds with go to the club.

The rules are simple:
Any club member may submit digital photographs of his or her LS for consideration.
You may submit as many digital images as you wish and only digital images will be accepted.
All I ask is that you send the largest, highest quality image you can.
The key word here is QUALITY. It does not matter what year, model or color your LS is. It also does not matter if your LS is bone stock or highly modified. All that does matter is that it is a high quality photograph showing the beauty of your LS.
Creativity and use of the natural surroundings will weigh heavily in the judging.

The judging:
Again, to keep things as simple as possible, I will be the sole Judge, Jury and Executioner of this project.
So you may direct all comments, ideas and complaints to ME.

How to enter:
You will be sending your digital entries to me via my club email address, tony.masasso@llsoc.com.
You may send as many images as you wish, but I would suggest that you pick only the best 4 or 5 at a time.
You can also keep sending me new photos as you take them right up to the deadline.
When you email me your photos please say "LLSOC Calendar" in the subject box and include your full name and club handle in your email. You do not need to send any additional information about your LS at this time. Those who are chosen will be notified and then asked to provide info about their car.
The deadline for entries is Oct. 29, 2006 at which time I will be making my final selections.
That gives you plenty of time to wash and detail your LS before you photograph it.

Photo requirements:
As I said before, it's all about QUALITY and SHARPNESS. It does not matter who you are or how long you have been a member. Nor does it matter if your LS is stock or modified. What does matter is that your photograph be the highest quality you can create.
And ,YES, Size does matter, so set your digital camera to it highest mode / largest file size and shoot away.
I will accept images in .jpg and .tiff formats. Try not to send me cropped, sized or retouched images. It's best to send the image just as it came out of your camera. I will do all the necessary cropping, sizing and retouching.
But remember, proper camera exposure on your end is a must.

Photo suggestions:
I would suggest that you do not include people in your photographs.
Also try not to photograph your LS in front of your house or in a lined parking lot.
Try to keep the background of your photos clean and free of street signs, poles, wires, lights... etc.
Do not have other cars in the photo unless they are also LS's.
And please make sure your car is clean.
Think of your LS as a Show Car and photograph it as such.
You can look at my photo board and this years calendar for inspiration.

I think you get the idea.
Don't wait till the last minute like last year. Start taking your photos now!
If you have any questions or comments feel free to post them here or email me directly. I will, as always, be happy to help anyone with their LS picture taking.

So Get Busy!!

Optimistic aren't you Tony?

I can't wait to get some good shots. Maybe a purge shot, or a nice tasteful drift.

What about the LS in front of a curvy road sign on a nice curvy road? Would that be an exception for the "no street signs rule?"

The answer to all your questions Chris is YES!

Look at the month of April in this years calender and you will get the idea.

Glad you decided to do this again!




I think this one meets all your requirements, Tony. We all know it's a shoe-in. Just say it right now: "Only need 11 more!"

Clean? Wash and Detail? Are there instructions on how to do these? They sound like incredibly technical tasks, and I'm not sure I know how to do them.

Or, at least, that's what my friends with show cars tell me.

Just tell'em it's a "rat rod"!

Awesome, Chris!
(What's that white stuff??)

I didn't know that you worked at a sugar factory!

Ohio....
Corn....
Carn Starch!

Yeah, that's the ticket! Corn Starch!

The contest rules say you can't have any non-LS cars in the photo!

bump....

i'm definately not missing this one!!

Could somebody with admin priv. in this forum pin this topic?

I tried. Denied.

Done Chris.

You know... after the snow stops falling, a Winter LS shot would look great in the calendar for Dec.-Jan.
You don't need "good" weather to take a unique LS photo.
(hint hint)

That won't happen around here. Our snow is history. We're down to the remnants...gray sky, cold wind, and occasional ice.

Then I challenge all our North-Eastern members.

Dig out your driveways, shine up your LS's and take the perfect "Winter Wonderland" photo with your LS right in the middle.

Just make sure we don't see any footprints in the snow leading to and from your car!

Sounds like a challenge to Mother Nature - we'll see who wins.

Just wanted to bring this topic back up to the front again.

Remember... Idle hands are the Devil's workshop.

So Get Busy!

Hey, fuggetaboutit!

BADA BING!

How do you setup your camera to get only your parked car in focus, and background blurred?

I have Canon a70 3MP, and can use my dad's mega zoom point and shoot 4 or 5 MP Canon for the shots.
I can change aperture, shutter speed, ISO.

Also, I just read an article about digital pic taking tricks and may try pinhole pic

Depth of field (ie, whether only the foreground or both foreground and background are in sharp focus) is controlled by the aperture (F-stop). Alas, it's been too long, and I can't recall which way you adjust the aperture to adjust the depth of field, but I think a smaller aperture (higher F-stop) will bring the foreground into sharp focus while the background will be out of focus... I'm sure Tony will correct me if I'm wrong.

Adam...

What you are referring to is "Depth of Field", which is the distance between the nearest point and the farthest point of the subject which is perceived as sharp or in focus.

To keep your subject in focus but your background or foreground out of focus you need to have a shallow or short depth of field. The easiest way to do that is to use a wide aperture (F-stop) such as f2.8 and a long focal length lens (135mm+).

So try shooting your LS at your camera's longest zoom out with the aperture set to it widest opening, usually f2.8 to 3.5. The shutter speed will then control the exposure. Just make sure that you center the focus on the car and not on the background or foreground.

The lower the f-stop, the shorter the depth of field. Use smaller numbers in the f-stop, as Tony suggested, something like 2.8-3.5. If your focus is correct on the subject, the foreground and the background will be blurred.

Frankly, I don't particularly care for that type of photo. Instead you may want to find a pleasing, non-distracting background and include it in the focussed field of your photo.

How far away the subject (subject, cuz I wanna take photos like that of other things than my LS) should be from the background for it to come out right (have the background blurred)?

Adam...

For maximum effect, as far away as possible. Since I don't know the length of your lens, I can't say for sure how far that distance is. Just zoom out to the farthest your lens will go, set the aperture to the smallest F number you can (2.8-3.5), take some shots and see how it looks.

A good test would be to take different shots the same subject from the same distance and zoom setting only changing the F-stop for each shot. Set your camera to "Aperture Priority" and go through the whole range of F-stops on your lens. The shutter speed will change automatically to give you the correct exposure. Then look at all images together to see the differences.

Got it.
Click to view attachment
Can you spot a 2nd LS on the pic ?

Is it the red thing in the background?

No. Look at reflection on the fender

Just a reminder that you all have 5 MONTHS till the deadline for your calendar images.

This is your 3 MONTH WARNING!

As of today, I only have 2 out of the 12 images needed to complete the calendar.
So if you want to have an 2007 LLSOC Calendar, you need to start sending me images of your LS.
It's as simple as that.

No Pictures... No Calendar!
It's up to all of you.

Tony,

Can I submit photos too?

You sure can Ken!

But I have to warn all of you that the October deadline is coming up fast and I still do not have enough photos to complete next years calendar.

So I have to ask all of you....
WHAT HAPPENED??

Last year I got tons of images to choose from... This year nada.
Are all you guys and gals burned out about having an LLSOC calendar for next year?
Do you all think that your LS or photo skills aren't good enough?
Do you all think that someone else is going to send their pictures?
Do you all think that you, personally, don't have a chance of getting in?

Well.... That's Bull and You Are ALL WRONG!

So get with it everybody.
If you want it, you've got to help me make it happen.
Cuz if you don't, there won't be one.

Yes to all three of those questions, but that's not why you haven't gotten any more pics from me. After the first set of pics my $500 camera crapped out on me, but i'll be buying another and sending more soon.

I'm on a mission to get into this year's calendar, so i'll drive around the country and photograph every member's LS if that's what it takes. Granted they'll all be slightly overexposed and out of focus, but hey, it's still a competition right.

Get it together people. I'm getting a freakin calendar one way or another.

I wanted to get so much done to mine before sending pics in, but with my luck other things came up and inever got to do anything!!!

I will have to find a nice background and just send pics as is....

I have not sent in any this year to let other members have the opportunity to get their beauty in next years' calendar. Shall I submit some new pictures of "Miss July" for an entry in the 2007 version?

If anyone out there has a few images from the previous calendars, I would love to check out the pics that got in. Low quality/no quality pics are fine, but as of now I really have no idea of how artistic/creative the photos need to be. I think I saw one near the Grand Canyon or something once, but I can't remember what discussion that came from. I'm just trying to get an idea of what type of shot I should be going for.

the last two pages of the 2006 calendar thread has some pics - > http://forums.llsoc.com/index.php?showtopic=9216&st=390

Yes Brad....
Everyone can send in photos, even if you were in this years calendar.
They just have to be images that I have not seen before.


Here is a link to my public photo page with all of the 2006 calendar images.

2006 Calendar

Tony,

Is your LLSOC email address working? If so I would like to send you a link to a page with some recent photos I took of my LS. If you see any that might make the calendar you can give me the file names and I'll send the original files. I'd like to make the calendar if I can!

Yes my email is up and the same as always.

tony.masasso@llsoc.com

Looking at the 06 calender pics, i notice there were no straight forward shots. Are those not picked or were none submitted or not allowed?

If you mean like this Chris, Click to view attachment there is nothing wrong with that type of shot.
It just has to be a good one with a good background.

The same goes for this type of shot too. Click to view attachment Just make it interesting.

ok cool deal!

Final Warning!

The deadline is October 1st and as of today only 4 members have sent me pictures.
It's all up to you if you want a LLSOC Calender for 2007 or not.
So you better decide in a hurry.

I'm doing my photo shoot tomorrow morning.

You have mail.

Thanks Brother.... Looks real good!

The past week was a real good one for Calendar Photos and I think we can make it if I extend the deadline another month. So I have changed my original first post deadline to a new date.

The Deadline for you to send me Calendar Photos is now October 29th.

I still need 5 quality images to complete the project. So if you have thought about sending me pictures of your LS but haven't yet, you still have a few weeks to do so. If you have any questions or need any help, please email me and I will get right back to you.

Thanks.
tony.masasso@llsoc.com

That's Great! I will submit some pics for sure. These past 4 weekends have been killer for me and I haven't had any time to clean up the ride and take some quality photos. I'll get on it!

Good news for me too. I got a couple of lousy shots in and now rain's again on the way.